Isla Mujeres is a 4.5 mile long island sitting off Cancun, in Quintana Roo, Mexico (not to be confused with the Playa del Carmen on Lanzarote, in Spain). No boat links it to Playa del Carmen: you first have to cover the 42 miles (68 km) north to Cancun, then board the Ultramar ferry at Puerto Juarez. Budget 2 hr 15 min to 3 hours each way and roughly 960 to 1,330 pesos per person in transport ($52 to $72). Here is the trip leg by leg, what the island is actually worth once you are on it, and why we recommend one night there rather than cramming it into a single day.
Isla Mujeres from Playa del Carmen: three legs, no shortcut
Reaching Isla Mujeres from Playa del Carmen takes three legs: Playa to Cancun (42 miles), downtown Cancun to the Puerto Juarez pier (3 miles), then the ferry crossing (15 to 20 minutes). Nothing sails from Playa itself: the boats leaving the Calle 1 Sur pier go east to Cozumel, while Isla Mujeres lies to the north, facing Cancun. Count 5 to 6 hours of transport round trip. This is an expedition, not a half day out.
One useful piece of news for 2026: ADO now runs a direct bus from Playa del Carmen all the way to the Puerto Juarez ferry terminal, which removes the taxi in the middle. It costs about 190 pesos ($11) and takes roughly 2 hours, with only a couple of morning departures, so it is a bonus rather than a plan.
Playa del Carmen to Cancun: the ADO bus or your own car
The ADO bus is the cheapest and simplest way into downtown Cancun: about 118 to 124 pesos ($6.40 to $6.70), 1 hr 10 min to 1 hr 45 min depending on stops, with departures from 4:15 am to 11:30 pm every 15 to 30 minutes.
- Departure: the Terminal Turistica downtown, on Quinta Avenida at Calle 12, or the Terminal Alterna, on Avenida 20 Norte at Calle 12 Norte. They are a 15 minute walk apart, so read your ticket before you walk.
- Arrival: the ADO Centro terminal in downtown Cancun, about 3 miles from the pier.
- Watch out: the bus to Cancun airport costs twice as much, 258 to 270 pesos. Ask for Cancun centro.
From the ADO terminal to Puerto Juarez, a street taxi runs 150 to 250 pesos ($8 to $13.50) for a 10 to 20 minute ride. The city bus marked Puerto Juarez does the same trip for a few pesos, and takes about ten minutes longer. Agree the taxi fare before getting in: Cancun taxis have no meters.
Driving (600 to 1,000 pesos a day, $32 to $54) takes 1 hour to 1 hr 15 min on Highway 307 then Boulevard Lopez Portillo. Gran Puerto has a paid parking lot, because cars do not board the passenger ferry. More on this route in our guide to Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen.
The Ultramar ferry: Puerto Juarez, never the hotel zone
The Ultramar ferry from Puerto Juarez, also signposted Gran Puerto, is the only sensible choice: about 290 pesos one way ($15.70) and 580 pesos round trip ($31) per adult, a 15 to 20 minute crossing, with departures every 30 minutes from 5:30 am to around 10 pm, then hourly until about 11:30 pm.
Return sailings from Isla run from roughly 6 am to midnight. Ultramar asks you to be at the terminal 30 minutes before departure, and your ticket covers one bag up to 55 lb (25 kg). Tickets stay valid six months, so buying the return leg up front costs you nothing in flexibility.
The three other piers (Playa Tortugas, Playa Caracol and El Embarcadero) sit inside the Cancun hotel zone: more expensive at 400 to 500 pesos and up round trip ($22 to $27), slower at 25 to 35 minutes, and, above all, their last boat back leaves between 5 pm and 7 pm. Coming from Playa del Carmen, they make no sense at all.
Two habits at the ticket window: pay in pesos, because the dollar rate posted at the terminal is always poor, and buy the round trip immediately. Ultramar fares change without notice; these were checked in September 2026.
How long it takes and what it costs, door to door
A day on Isla Mujeres from Playa del Carmen costs about 960 to 1,330 pesos per person in transport ($52 to $72), and takes 2 hr 15 min to 3 hours each way.
| Leg | Duration | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| Playa del Carmen to downtown Cancun (ADO) | 1 hr 10 min to 1 hr 45 min | 118 to 124 pesos ($6.40 to $6.70) |
| Cancun ADO terminal to Puerto Juarez (taxi) | 10 to 20 min | 150 to 250 pesos ($8 to $13.50) |
| Wait at the Ultramar terminal | 30 min recommended | 0 |
| Puerto Juarez to Isla Mujeres (ferry) | 15 to 20 min | 290 pesos ($15.70) |
| Total one way | 2 hr 15 min to 3 hr | 558 to 664 pesos ($33 to $39) |
Rate used: about about 17 pesos to the dollar, September 2026. The direct ADO bus to Puerto Juarez, when the schedule works for you, brings the round trip transport down to roughly 960 pesos ($57).
If you insist on the day trip: ADO at 6 am to 6:30 am, ferry around 8:30 am, golf cart by 11 am, ferry back at 6 pm. Any later and you will spend more time on a bus than in the water.
Playa Norte: the beach that justifies the trip
Playa Norte is the only beach in the region where you can walk 650 feet out from shore with the water still at waist height, no waves and no current. That is why it keeps showing up in traveler rankings of the best beaches in the Caribbean, and why it earned Blue Flag certification in 2018.
Two geographic facts explain everything:
- The bottom shelves very gently. Along a crescent of sand 2,300 to 3,300 feet long and up to 330 feet wide, the water stays around 3 to 4 feet deep for dozens of yards. It is the least intimidating beach in the region with young children.
- It faces northwest, inside the Bahia de Mujeres, not the open sea. Swell never reaches it, and the sargassum rafts, which arrive from the east, almost always spare this side of the island. During the May to August peaks, when Playa and Tulum go brown, Playa Norte usually stays clean: see our guide to sargassum in Playa del Carmen.
The beach is a 5 to 10 minute walk from the ferry dock, straight north through town. Beach clubs hand out loungers and palapas against a minimum spend of 200 to 400 pesos per person ($11 to $22), with beer around 50 to 70 pesos ($2.70 to $3.80). Laying a towel on the sand costs nothing.
The honest limit: between 11 am and 4 pm the Cancun ferries unload day trippers and the beach is packed. Before 10 am and after 5 pm it is a different place.
Renting a golf cart to circle the island
A golf cart is the right way to see Isla Mujeres, and the full loop takes 2 to 3 hours with stops: 4.5 miles long, 700 yards wide, one coastal road.
- Price: 1,200 to 1,600 pesos ($71 to $94) for an 8 to 9 hour day in a 4 seater, 1,400 to 2,000 pesos ($82 to $118) for 24 hours. Six seaters run 2,200 to 3,000 pesos ($130 to $177). Most rental agencies include the gas.
- High season: rates climb from mid December to mid January and again through the winter, and weekly discounts disappear between December 20 and February 28.
- Conditions: 18 and over, a valid driver license is required and is often kept as a deposit. Agencies open 9 am to 6 pm or 8 pm. A 24 hour rental is due back at 10 am the next day.
- Book ahead from December to March. The island has a finite number of carts, and the first morning ferries empty the downtown agencies before noon. Several rental companies deliver to your hotel.
Cheaper options: a scooter at 100 pesos an hour, 250 pesos for 8 hours or 350 pesos for 24 hours ($5.40 to $19), a bicycle around 200 pesos a day ($11), or a taxi from the ferry to Punta Sur for about 150 pesos ($9). The bike is lovely at 9 am and miserable at 2 pm.
Punta Sur: the lighthouse, the Ixchel temple and the sculptures
Punta Sur, the island's southern tip, is the one paid site worth its ticket: 100 to 130 pesos ($5.40 to $7), about 5 miles from the ferry dock, so 20 to 25 minutes by golf cart. The park, its cafe and its restrooms run roughly 9 am to 5 pm, and cash only at the gate.
Three things in a one to two hour walk:
- The remains of the Ixchel temple, the Maya moon goddess. The site is small and was badly damaged by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988: come for the setting, not the architecture.
- The 1902 lighthouse, around 65 feet tall, with a 360 degree view over the Caribbean.
- The Sculptured Spaces park, open air works given to the island by international artists, among them the Mexicans Jose Luis Cuevas and Vladimir Cora. QR codes at the base of each piece give you the context.
This is the easternmost point of Mexico and the first ground the sunrise touches, hence its other name, Acantilado del Amanecer, the cliff of the dawn. The clifftop path is narrow and has no railing in places, so it is a poor fit for toddlers.
Snorkeling the MUSA and Manchones reef
The MUSA, Museo Subacuatico de Arte, is the best snorkeling you can reach from Isla Mujeres: more than 450 submerged statues, including the Manchones gallery, set 26 feet down on a reef off the south of the island.
- Price: 830 to 1,300 pesos per person from Isla Mujeres ($45 to $70). National park and dock fees of about 280 pesos ($16) are usually collected in cash on the day and are not in the advertised price.
- Duration and departures: about 4 hours with two entries in the water (the reef first, then the statues), leaving around 8 am and 2 pm.
- Included: mask, snorkel, vest and guide. Lunch or snacks on the better operators.
Manchones is shallow, so it reads well from the surface, unlike the deeper galleries over by Punta Nizuc. Divers go down on tanks too, but the MUSA stays an easy dive. For real underwater relief, the reefs in our guide to the beaches of Playa del Carmen and the dive sites off Cozumel are a better use of a tank.
The honest limit: these are statues, not pristine coral. Visibility depends on the wind and the site gets busy. At 8 am the water is clearer.
Swimming with whale sharks, June to September
The official whale shark season runs May 15 to September 15, and Isla Mujeres is the best departure port in Mexico: the aggregations form northeast of the island.
- When: most operators do not start running until June 1, because the animals are not there in numbers before that. July and August have the highest encounter rates; June and early September are quieter and easier to book. Several operators aim for the week either side of a full moon, when the fish spawning that draws the sharks peaks.
- Price: 2,600 to 3,400 pesos per adult on a shared boat ($140 to $185), plus a government dock fee of 185 to 370 pesos ($11 to $22) paid in cash at the pier. A private boat for up to 10 people runs around 34,000 pesos ($2,004).
- Format: about 6 hours, leaving Isla Mujeres around 7:45 am, because whale sharks feed at the surface in the morning and drop deeper in the afternoon.
The rules are strict here, and that is good news. The zone is a federal biosphere reserve: only permitted boats and certified guides operate in it. In the water, it is ten passengers maximum per boat, two swimmers at a time with a guide, a mandatory flotation vest since 2019, no touching the animal, a minimum distance of 16 feet, no feeding, and no chemical sunscreen, which is toxic to the species.
Our take: it is expensive, and it is the only activity on this page that earns that price. One caveat, seasickness: it is 1 to 2 hours of navigation in open water, and the summer swell has nothing to do with the calm of Playa Norte.
The catamaran tours sold from Playa del Carmen: what they are worth
The catamarans sold from Playa del Carmen are advertised as a day on Isla Mujeres. They are not: they are a day on a boat with a short stop on the island.
The format rarely varies: hotel pickup around 7 am, 1 hr 15 min by road to a Cancun marina, a snorkeling stop in the marine park, open bar and buffet, a call at Playa Norte, and back in the late afternoon. That is 9 to 10 hours door to door for 2 to 3 hours on the island.
- Price: from about 720 pesos ($42) for basic cruises, and 1,570 to 2,130 pesos ($93 to $126) for the full day versions with transport from Playa.
- Hidden fees: many operators add a dock and marine park fee of 280 to 460 pesos ($16 to $27) per person, cash, on the day. Ask for the all in price.
- Transport surcharge: 280 to 370 pesos ($16 to $22) if your hotel is in Playacar or out toward Puerto Aventuras.
Who it suits: anyone who wants a boat day, an open bar and some snorkeling without organizing a thing. Who is miscalculating: anyone coming for the island. Two hours on the ground at the hottest part of the day, with no golf cart and no Punta Sur, is not a visit, and the ADO plus ferry combination gives you 8 hours instead of 2. More day trip ideas in our guide to things to do in Playa del Carmen.
Day trip or one night on the island: our verdict
Sleep one night on Isla Mujeres. It is the only way to make 5 to 6 hours of transport pay off, and to see the island at the two moments when it is beautiful: before 10 am and after 5 pm, once the day trip ferries have gone back to Cancun.
The plan that works: early ADO, ferry around 10 am, golf cart booked for 24 hours, Punta Sur in the late afternoon, dinner in town, an empty Playa Norte at sunrise, MUSA at 8 am, midday ferry back. The whole island for the price of one extra hotel night. For whale sharks, the 7:45 am departure makes an overnight stay mandatory anyway.
The day trip still holds up if you have exactly one free day and accept that Playa Norte is all you will get.
One last calendar note: from May to October the ferries are emptier and golf carts are available without booking, but that is rainy season, sargassum season and hurricane season all at once. The month by month detail sits in our guide to the best time to visit Playa del Carmen.
Keep going
Frequently asked questions
Is there a direct ferry from Playa del Carmen to Isla Mujeres?
No. No scheduled ferry links Playa del Carmen to Isla Mujeres. The Playa pier serves Cozumel only. For Isla Mujeres you first reach Cancun (42 miles, about 118 to 124 pesos on the ADO bus, 1 hr 10 min to 1 hr 45 min), then take the Ultramar ferry at Puerto Juarez, also signposted Gran Puerto. ADO also runs a direct bus from Playa to the Puerto Juarez terminal for about 190 pesos, but with only a couple of morning departures. Details on the route in our guide to Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen.
How much is the ferry to Isla Mujeres and how long is the crossing?
From Puerto Juarez, the Ultramar ferry costs about 290 pesos one way ($15.70) and 580 pesos round trip ($31) per adult, for a 15 to 20 minute crossing. Boats leave every 30 minutes from 5:30 am to around 10 pm, then hourly until about 11:30 pm. From the hotel zone piers (Playa Tortugas, Playa Caracol, El Embarcadero), expect 400 to 500 pesos and up round trip, a 25 to 35 minute crossing, and a last boat back between 5 pm and 7 pm.
Can you do Isla Mujeres as a day trip from Playa del Carmen?
Yes, but it is a long day: 2 hr 15 min to 3 hours each way and about 960 to 1,330 pesos per person in transport ($52 to $72). You need the 6 am ADO and the 6 pm ferry back to get roughly 8 hours on the island. We would rather you stay the night: it is the only way to see Playa Norte before 10 am and after 5 pm, once the Cancun day trippers have left.
Do you need to book a golf cart on Isla Mujeres?
Yes from December to March, no the rest of the year. The island has a limited fleet and the downtown agencies are empty before noon in high season. Expect 1,200 to 1,600 pesos ($71 to $94) for an 8 to 9 hour day and 1,400 to 2,000 pesos ($82 to $118) for 24 hours, gas included. You must be 18 with a valid driver license, which is often held as a deposit, and rates rise over the winter months.
Does sargassum reach Playa Norte?
Far less than the mainland coast. Playa Norte faces northwest, inside the Bahia de Mujeres, while the sargassum rafts arrive from the east, so the beach is almost always spared, even during the May to August peaks that hit Playa del Carmen and Tulum. That makes it the best plan B during a heavy arrival week, as we explain in our guide to sargassum in Playa del Carmen.
Read next
Plan your tripSargassum in Playa del Carmen: Today's Conditions, the Season, and Where to Swim Anyway
Plan your tripCancun airport to Playa del Carmen: 34 miles, and the six ways to cover them
Things to doThings to Do in Playa del Carmen: 12 Activities Ranked by Price, With What Is Worth It and What You Can Skip